76th Annual Hunger Games
by SarahKinsley
Summary: The Bella's and the Treble's are forced to fight to the death. This story takes place in the first movie. Please R&R
1. Chapter 1

R&R

Beca Mitchell was new to Barden University. She had promised her father she would suffer through a whole year of higher education before moving to LA to live the dream.

She found herself wandering the mess on the quad. There had to be something here for her, right? She spotted a promising sign about DJ's only to discover it stood for deaf Jews. Weird.

Then a pretty red haired girl called her out about a singing group. Music was her life, but singing? Lame. The tall, preppy looking girl seemed offended by her opinions, but she didn't care. Maybe she'd just stick with the radio station. She didn't need any of these people.

Beca was happily sleeping through her first class when her dad decided to wake her up. He offered to help her move to LA in exchange for her joining a club. This was the best news she'd ever heard. She could join some lame club with minimal involvement to appease her dad and the nightmare was over! Shower time.

She was singing in the shower and thinking about how she should have spent more time at the club fair, when someone joined her shower. It was the girl with the singing thing. She had stalked her to the shower and heard her singing.

After she freaked out a little, she sang for the crazy girl. Weirdest day ever. But the girl had a point. She wanted Beca to join their club, and Beca needed to join a club. What could possibly go wrong?

She almost missed the audition, but she thought it went ok. They were told afterwards they'd be hearing from the groups in a few days if they were chosen and they left.

Beca walked back to her dorm after working at the radio station, humming to herself. She had been secretly told by her shower stalker that she was in, and that they'd be kidnapping her later that night. Because of this warning, she thought nothing of the voices following her in the dark. She had been dreading it all day.

A man grabbed her from behind placing a good over her head and lifting her off her feet. She had been expecting Chloe or the blond girl, but obviously they couldn't kidnap them all at the same time. These guys must be helping them. She didn't struggle. She was determined to maintain her dignity.

The guy carrying her had an iron grip. They were being unnecessarily rough considering she wasn't even fighting. She was starting to worry but kept telling herself that this was part of the plan, trying to scare her. She was thrown unceremoniously into a trunk and the second guy tied her hands behind her back. Now she was afraid. She struggled, fought, but they overpowered her. She was half out of the trunk being held down by one and had her hands tied by the other. She started yelling and one of them hit her in the head with something heavy. She blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Beca woke up in a lot of pain. Her head felt like it had been cleaved in two, her wrists were tied tightly to the arms of a straight backed chair, her ankles to the legs. Her legs were so short they didn't quite reach the ground in the chair, so the ankle ties were particularly painful.

She didn't want to open her eyes. She was desperately hoping the Bella's had kidnapped her as planned. When she finally opened them and blinked rapidly to adjust to the light, she was momentarily filled with relief. Directly across from her was her shower stalker, Chloe, also tied to a chair. For a tiny moment she thought she had been stupid, it had just been the Bella's.

But she realized immediately that Chloe was already a Bella. She wouldn't be tied to a chair with the rest of them. Fear flooded her body, but she didn't let it show. Instead she looked around for the first time and realized there were actually quite a few people in the room.

Chloe was unconscious. So was the large blond girl to Beca's right, but everyone else was awake. The tall bossy chick was next to Chloe looking livid. She had moved her chair about three feet back, struggling, disrupting the otherwise perfect, evenly spaced circle they had been arranged in.

She caught Beca looking at her. "What are you staring at freak?! We need to get out of here!" She screamed.

"Oh don't get her yelling again." The girl on Beca's left sighed. "Don't know how you guys stayed out so long with her ranting and raving over there. My name is Cynthia-Rose by the way."

"Well excuse me for trying to get us out of here! While you all just sit there and stare at each other!" She shouted.

"Will you calm down? You're not helping Aubrey!" The small blond on Chloe's other side asked. "What's you're name?"

"Beca." She ignored Aubrey's eye roll. "You?"

"Ashley." Ashley went around the circle telling Beca everyone's names. "And I think you know Chloe, she is still out. Aubrey Loudmouth of course, then Denise, Cynthia Rose, you, Sleeping girl, Stacie, Jessica, and silent Asian."

"Her name is Fat Amy!" Aubrey said with an agitated tone.

"Fat Amy? But she's super skinny?!" Ashley said.

"Not the silent Asian, the sleeping girl! She told me her name was Fat Amy."

"Why would she call herself fat? Oh well it doesn't matter. We need a plan."

"Oh now you want to try to get out?!" Aubrey shouted some more. "Where have you been!"

"Waiting for you to shut up." Ashley answered smoothly. "You've been out a long time Beca, I was the first to wake up and we've been here for hours. I am worried about what is going to happen once we're all awake."

"I've been worried about that too. Aubrey said, distracted from her own frustration. "I think that must be what they're waiting for. But I can't-" she jumped the chair a little more "get-out if this-damn-chair!" On the last scoot, she twisted somehow and the chair fell sideways with an almighty crash.

"Good job skippy. You trying to wake the dead or something?" Fat Amy said, waking up at last. "What are we doing?" She looked around in mild surprise waiting for someone to explain.

Beca opened her mouth to respond when several things happened at once. She made brief eye contact with Chloe. Then she did a double take. Chloe was awake. As if someone else realized this at the exact same moment, a door slammed directly behind Beca. Everyone else in the room turned to look at it, but Beca couldn't so she sat, paralyzed with fear at the looks on everyone else's faces.


	3. Chapter 3

The strangest man Beca had ever seen walked to the place where Aubrey had fallen. He picked up her chair and sat her back upright before moving to the center of the circle.

When he turned and Beca saw his face, she gasped audibly. His hair, which had been pulled back into a ponytail, was a soft shade of lavender. His eyebrows had been dyed to match, and he looked as though he'd had several plastic surgeries or too much Botox (or both). It was frightening.

"Hello Bella's!" He said merrily. "My name is Caesar Flickerman! I am pleased to announce that you have been chosen to participate in the 76th annual Hunger Games!"

Beca almost laughed out loud. This was obviously some kind of joke. The hunger games were movies. Books. Not real. Maybe that all boys group had set this up as a prank? It seemed far fetched but what else was there?

She looked around the room at some of the other girls faces and they mostly looked shocked at his outburst. Some looked scared. Aubrey was still angry. He ignored all of this and continued:

"This year in honor of our Hollywood success we have decided to do a special of our own: Musical contestants!" He looked positively ecstatic. Then he turned more businesslike.

"You will meet your assigned partners soon and we will explain the rules. Then your preparations, and in two weeks time, the Games will begin! May the odds be ever in your favor!" And with that, he walked out of the room.

A stunned silence followed the slam of the door.

"This is a joke right?" Beca said, causing several people to jump, and then look up at her. "I mean that guy is obviously crazy, right?"

Before anyone could answer the door opened again and a line of people came in. There were ten if them and they moved around the room so that they were one to each Bella. They each had a white cloth in hand that they held up to the Bella's faces. Aubrey fought the hardest, almost succeeding in knocking her chair over again but she was eventually subdued like the rest of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Beca woke up in what appeared to be a storage closet. She was no longer tied so she got up groggily and tried the door. It was locked. Shocking.

She turned back and started looking through the shelves on the back wall looking for a weapon. Joke or not, whoever opened that door would be sorry they involved her.

Or not. The door opened not a minute later and before she could do more than turn around she was almost flattened by a boy being thrown into the room.

He had quick reflexes. Turning on the spot he tried to run back out of the door just to have it slammed in his face (pushing him back a little). Beca didn't like the sound it made when it closed. Steel reinforcement. Didn't stop the boy though. He rammed his shoulder into it twice before Beca spoke.

"Stop!" She yelled. "It's not going to move!" He spun around having only just noticed her. It was the kid from the radio station. Jesse.

"You?" She asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"You were late to auditions, so you didn't see me, but I saw you. You were good." He paused. "They must have taken the girls group too."

"Too?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ya. They took the Treblemakers and the three boys that auditioned-including me- ten of us total."

"They took the Bella's too but there were only two Bella's so they took all the girls that auditioned too-ten total."

"Are they for real? They're going to have a hunger games with us? Like fighting to the death?" He looked scared.

"I don't know. I mean, taking twenty kids of one campus in one night? People will be looking for us. Surely someone will find us before it comes to that."

"I hope."

The door opened behind Jesse and he spun around about to make a run for it and then stopped. A very large man stepped up to the door frame, preceded by his weapon. Or at least that's what Beca assumed it was by the way he held it. It looked like a toy gun, bright colored and small.

"Let's be adults about this." The man said. Jesse charged. The man pointed his toy gun up so as not to hit one of them, and grabbed Jesse by the arm he swung and turned him around. Jesse's back was against the man (and Jesse's head didn't even reach the guy's chin) pinned by his arm. He struggled uselessly and the man looked at Beca. "You gonna fight me too? I only have so many hands, I'll have to shoot one of you."

"With your water gun?!" Jesse yelled between struggles. "Run Beca!"

Before Beca could move, the guy pointed the gun at a shelf to her left and fired. It melted. The gun had contained some kind of acid.

Jesse stopped struggling.

"Alright then, I'm glad we understand each other. I am not going to hurt you unless you force me too. I've only come to show you to your rooms." He looked almost bored. "That alright with you?" He added to Jesse.

Jesse shrugged dejectedly. He stood aside so they could walk in front of him. They were in a long narrow hallway. They walked all the way to the end and he told them to turn left.

They walked in silence for at least another 5 minutes, every now and then taking a turn. Doors lined the halls every few feet. The further they walked the more spaced the doors looked to Beca. Eventually they stopped outside of one and the man (who finally told them that his name was Tony) took a key from his pocket and opened it.

Inside was a tiny room, smaller than the supply closet. There were three other doors in here though, and Tony pointed them through the middle one.

This room was quite large. There was a table in the center with right chairs around it, two of them filled. There was a woman, short with long black hair, and a man who looked vaguely familiar to Beca.

Tony gestured them to sit down and Beca chose a seat opposite the man. Jesse sat beside her, opposite the woman. Tony walked around the table and sat beside the woman.

"Welcome," the woman said with what Beca thought was a poisonous smile. "You must be so confused about the current arrangements. I know it can be hard at first, but you'll get used to it. Anyway, I am Jena, and this is Greyson," she pointed to the man and Beca held back a gasp.

She knew who he was. He had been on the news for months a few years back. He was some politician's kid that had disappeared. Everyone had thought he ran away. What did that mean for her and Jesse?

"Greyson will be your mentor for the duration of the games," She said as if it made sense. "And I will be your press liaison." Beca raised an eyebrow at that, to which Jena answered:

"Not the outside press of course. I will be your voice, along with Greyson, to the sponsors. I'll help you prepare for your interviews. I'll keep your schedules, that sort of thing." She smiled again. Beca was more confused than ever.

"What exactly is going on?" Beca asked bluntly.

"You have been chosen to participate in the Hunger Games, of course. Quite an honor."

"I've seen that movie. Isn't that where they put all the kids in a bubble to kill each other?" Beca asked looking at Jesse, the movie expert.

"It's not so crass as all that. You will be paired up, obviously you two are a team, and you will enter an arena and yes you will fight each other until only one team remains, but there is so much more than that." She glanced briefly at Greyson. "You two are team one. Greyson was the last winner of team 1, so he will be your mentor."

"Now, you will spend the next two weeks preparing in two ways: physical training, and publicity. The more sponsors you win over, the better your chances. Sponsors can send you things you may really need in the arena. I can't stress their importance enough."

"Also, you will be able to work on whatever skills you think may come in handy in the arena. Weapons training, knot tying, plant identification, things like that."

"Well now I must be going, lots to do," and with that she stood up to leave. "Greyson can take over from here. He can help you with any questions you may have"

She walked around the table, Tony following silently. Beca was somewhat stunned by her abrupt taking of leave but she turned her focus back to Greyson not knowing what to expect.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the next two weeks Beca and Jesse went through many workouts, an awkward interview, and many skills assessments.

Somewhere around interview time (day 5) Beca began to accept that this was really going to happen. No one was going to save them.

Greyson it turned out had been kidnapped prior to the release of the first hunger games movie (not the books though). He said he believes the writer of the books may be a survivor of what he calls The Real Games. That was what gave him the hope to keep surviving in this place. If that person got out, maybe he would too. Or maybe if they just hang on long enough they people controlling them will make a mistake (like kidnapping 20 kids off of one campus in one night) and get caught.

But they need to live in the now if they're going to make it out of the arena alive. Beca had suggested to Jena one day the possibility that all the Bella's and Treble's could simply refuse to fight and stay in the arena until the sponsors became bored with them. What could they do? Kill them all? They were trying to kill most of them anyway.

Jena showed Beca a photo of her little brother. Her mother. Her father and step mother. These are the people that would die if she refused to play. Not her.

She threw up. That was her last hope. She was really going to have to do this. Kill or be killed.

Greyson's advice was get away from the other players as soon as possible and find water. Everything else was up to chance. Learn about the vegetation so you know what you can eat, learn how to make weapons out of random things that may or may not even be available in the arena. Run all the time. Build up your endurance as much as possible before you go in. Eat. A lot. Build strength. Don't die.

Beca found little of it helpful, but she tried her best to follow it. Jesse did too, no longer fighting at every opportunity to escape. He had a family too.

On day 11 they had a private session with the Game Makers. They demonstrated their newly acquired skills and any skill they thought may help them in the upcoming challenge. They were given scores on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being low and 10 being high) to start the betting odds of each team. Team 1 received a 6. The only team to have better odds was Team 7 (Lilly and Donald) who received an 8.

Tomorrow they would be making the assent to the arena. Beca was terrified. Maybe a little relieved too. One way or another, it would be over soon.


	6. Chapter 6

The morning of Game Day had arrived. It was 10:27 am and Beca was in the launch room with Jena, Greyson, and Jesse. Jena didn't say much, good luck, blah blah. She seemed distracted.

Greyson hugged them both and told them not to die, something he had taken to saying a lot. There was a small elevator-like machine in the center of the room waiting for them.

They were dressed alike. Soft, breathable, green, short sleeved shirts; thicker (but somehow still breathable) brown pants; and supple brown leather boots that laced up almost to the knee.

The elevator was just a small square on the ground, more like a platform than anything. They stood on it, holding hands but not looking at each other. Glass descended from the ceiling until it met the platform and enclosed them. Beca thought Greyson looked like he was crying. She looked away.

The platform and the glass began to rise at exactly 10:30. They had been warned repeatedly not to step off the platform until they heard the bell. Once at the top Beca saw that they were in a small clearing of a very dense forest. If she had thought the humidity had been bad in Georgia, it was a hundred times worse here. It was loud too. Insects buzzing, birds calling, and who even knows what else. She could see other Players around the edges of the clearing too. All evenly spaced. All wearing the same clothes.

In the center of the clearing we a pile of back packs. Each bright red and with a big white number (presumably Team numbers) sewn on. There was an assortment of other items on the ground closer to them (a jacket, a very thin rolled up sleeping bag, a tiny flask), and closer to the center there were bigger things, weapons mostly.

The bell sounded and Beca was the first person to move. She ran full out to the center her eyes already on the bag with the 1 on it. Jesse followed without missing a beat and arrived only a second after her. She snatched the bag out of the pile and almost dropped it when someone close to her screamed.

The blond girl (Jessica? Ashley? She couldn't remember), was standing with her hands on her chest and a look of shock on her face. Blood was pouring out of her mouth. When she dropped her arms Beca saw the blade protruding slightly. Someone had stabbed her in the back with enough force to go all the way through her body.

Beca didn't stay to see who. She pulled the pack over her shoulders on the run. Jesse was right beside her as they made for the nearest tree cover. They pushed through and Jesse, now slightly ahead grabbed a low branch and pulled himself up.

He was reaching down for Beca's hand when Beca saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She jumped behind the tree's trunk and hoped the person hadn't seen her.

"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." It was Chloe. Beca peeked around the tree. Benji was with her, carrying the Team 2 pack.

"We followed you through the trees." Benji said quietly. "We were hoping you'd agree to an alliance."

Beca saw the immediate flaw in an alliance but decided that 4 would have a better chance than 2. At least for now. Benji lifted her up and Jesse pulled so that Beca was now in the tree too. Benji pulled himself up after her and the boys reached down for Chloe, who was also too short.

The trees were very tall, but also close together. They were so close at the top that almost no light came through the leaves. They climbed up almost that far. The branches were sturdy and wove together between trees at this height. They could literally walk from one tree to another.

When they reached the top, Beca suggested they lift her up so she could see above the tree line and maybe find water. Jesse and Benji stood on either side of her and she stood in their hands. She put her hands up to push the leaves of the canopy aside as she went up and then her head and shoulders were out.

The vibrant green canopy stretched for miles in every direction. It was all she could see. There was a break in it to her left that could have been a river, or just a gap in the trees. It was impossible to say from here. They lowered her back down after a minute.

She couldn't even speak at first. Her eyes were wide, still trying to take in a scene that was no longer before her. They stared at her, expectantly.

"We are never going to get out of here." She said quietly.

"Beca!" Chloe yelled, trying to snap her out of it. "Tell us what you saw!"

"Green. All green. It's a rainforest, I think." She paused, and then came back to herself. "There's a big gap in the tree line that way," She pointed to the left. "It's long, maybe a river. I think we should go that way."


	7. Chapter 7

"Before we go anywhere I think we should check out the packs." Jesse said, sitting down on the branches. He opened he and Beca's pack which contained; two water bottles, two flashlights, two very thin sleeping bags, four lemon flavored nutrition bars, two folding knives, a length of thin but strong looking rope, and a tiny red case, which held a small glass bottle with a dropper labeled 'iodine' and an even smaller bottle bearing only a skull and crossbones.

"Iodine and poison?" Chloe asked. "Why?"

"Iodine will make the water drinkable." Beca answered. "And poison kills people." She added unhelpfully. Chloe gave her a look, and they moved on.

"Are we going to head for the possible water?" Benji asked no one in particular.

"I think we should, but there is something I want to do first." Beca answered. Without further explanation she stood and made her way through the branches towards the clearing they started in. The others followed sharing uncertain glances.

They hadn't gone too far, so it was a quick detour. Beca reached the clearing first and looked down. She began making her way through the trees to a different part of the circle, and then started down.

Jesse hurried to catch up. "What are you doing? There are probably other players still close by waiting for someone to come back to the unclaimed supplies."

"I'm not going down very far. Look."

She stopped climbing and pointed to a rope tied to a nearby branch. Now that he was looking, he saw several more all around them, and stretching right across the center of the clearing to the other side. A straight line of large wooden crates hung from them, save a space in the very middle where the crate containing the backpacks must have hung.

"Genius. How did you know they were there? It's so high up.."

"No one ever thinks to look up. Except me, because I'm short." Chloe and Benji had finished their descent now and Jesse was pointing out the crates to them. Beca didn't wait.

She moved to the very edge of the tree where the rope was connected and took a hold. She reached up to an outhanging branch over her head and gripped it, while walking balance-beam style on the rope until she reached the nearest crate.

The others just watched in awe at her fearlessness. Once on top of the crate, she lowered herself slowly and very carefully so that she was squatting down on top of it. She took the flashlight out of her pocket (Jesse hadn't even seen her take it out of the pack) every move slow and precise. She shined it through a crack in the boards and then turned back to the others with a thumbs up.

She stood back up a little to fast and grabbed on to the branch just as the crate started to rock a little. She looked up at the branch, redoubled her grip and lifted herself up to test it's support of her weight. It held firm. She placed her foot on a single board on the crate and stamped her foot through, breaking it. It was loud, but there was so much noise surrounding them already she thought they'd be ok.

She glanced back at the others for the first time and Jesse gave her an OK sign. She bent back down over the box and reached inside. Whatever was inside was too big to fit through the small hole she'd made so she pulled another part of the board off, rocking the crate a little and terrifying the others. She didn't seem to notice. She tossed the broken particle board aside and and tried again. It was a small brown burlap sack. She looked inside and smiled big.

She stood up and put one hand on the branch before tossing it to the others. It was full of apples. Benji quickly opened both packs and put all the pack supplies in one bag, and the apples in the other. Beca threw four more bags (containing oranges, pears, and two more of apples) before they indicated the pack was full.

She made her way down the line to the next crate and had only put one foot on it when she froze. She didn't move for several seconds during which her friends held their breaths collectively. Then she moved herself down onto the box and pressed an ear to the wood. She didn't move for a second but when she did it was quick. Too quick. She only just caught hold of the branch in time before the crate rocked violently. Now the sound inside the box was loud enough for Beca to hear standing up but it didn't reach the others.

Once the ropes were stable again she moved as quickly as possible back to the others.

"Beca, what..?" Chloe started but Beca shushed her. She opened the pack with the general supplies in it and dug out the knife. She turned away from them and straddled the large branch the biggest rope was tied to. She hesitated for only a moment before reaching down and sawing threw the rope, sending the apple crate, the mystery crate, and the other three that were past the gap from the already fallen crate, down into the clearing with an almighty crash.

Jesse leaned over and looked down at the ground so far below to see dozens of snakes crawling over more fruit bags, tent poles and weapons that must have been in different boxes, and the unclaimed packs. Before anyone could ask Beca why she would do such a thing, Lilly and Donald ran into the clearing from just behind the tree line clearly doing just as Jesse had suggested someone might do. They thought the noise had been made by some hapless person returning for lost supplies and had jumped out to finish them. By the time they realized their mistake, it was too late. Both were bitten at least a half dozen times and their screams drowned out all the din of the forest.

Beca got up from her seat without looking at the others. She took several steps through the close-knit branches of the canopy before sitting again with her back to the group, who still hadn't moved. They were starting at her with stunned disbelief. She felt the burn behind her eyes as the hot, silent tears carved tracks down her sweat stained face.

Chloe was the first to recover. She got up and sat back down next to Beca. She didn't say a word but put an arm around Beca to tell her that it was ok. That she understood why Beca had done it and she didn't think any less of her. Then Jesse was on Beca's other side. He put his arm around her too and they just sat like that for several minutes. Benji was sitting awkwardly behind them, not knowing what to do at first. Then he said:

"Beca , I know this is hard and you are upset," All three of them turned to look at him. Beca was no longer crying. "And this is a terrible moment, but snakes can climb trees." He finished lamely and pointed down to the branches not far below them. There were in fact snakes climbing towards them.

"Don't move quickly." Jesse said. "Stand up as slow as you dare and walk that way." He pointed at the way they'd come from, the way to the water (maybe). They all obeyed without question. Standing up at normal pace, not fast, not slow, and began walk-climbing. Jesse was wearing the pack with the fruit, and Chloe the supplies pack.

Beca was grateful for the movement. She didn't think she could bear being alone with her thoughts another moment. She had just killed two people. On purpose. She didn't know who would be there, but she had known that Jesse was right, that someone would be. Only two people were going to get out alive and she was determined that it be her and Jesse, and if they couldn't make it then Chloe and Benji.

If they wanted to make it out, the other players all had to die. And she had a family being threatened if she didn't participate. She'd had to do it. She'd had to. Didn't she?

No one talked for a long time. They just moved through the trees occasionally sipping water or crunching an apple. Beca was just starting to return to rational thought. She should have gone all the way around the clearing to access the other crates and get into those weapons or tents before she dropped the snakes. But honestly, if she'd allowed herself to think about it that long, she may not have been able to do it. She was also getting tired. She was considering asking the others if they wanted to stop and rest, but just then Jesse (who was leading now) stopped walking.

"I think we found it," He said, the little bit of excitement in his voice was almost overcome by exhaustion. Had they been walking that long?

She stepped around Jesse and looked at a very different break in the trees. They were on the bank of a river. The biggest one she had ever seen. It looked more like a lake, but the strong current suggested otherwise.

They could see the sun now, which was almost lost behind the tree line on the other side of the river. They must have been walking for several hours. Aside from being tired, it hadn't felt that long to Beca. Now that they had actually stopped she realized how sore she was.

They decided not to climb down just yet. The sun was barely visible up here, but it would be completely dark just a few feet into the trees at the bottom and they'd have no way of knowing if someone was there until they were right on top of them. It would be safer to sleep up here in the canopy.

They also decided to sleep in shifts, as an extra precaution. Beca volunteered to take first watch, as she didn't think she'd be able to sleep anyway. Jesse stayed up with her. Chloe and Benji used the two ropes to secure their sleeping bags to the tree branches.

They survived day one. Beca had barely formed this thought when a very low, almost inaudible noise to her right distracted her. Jesse, who had noticed nothing, felt Beca tense and turned to her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Don't. Move." She whispered slowly, not daring to look in the direction of the sound. She knew she would panic if she saw it. And just now, with two of her friend a strapped helplessly to a tree, was not the time to panic.

"Why?" He whispered back, urgently. "What is it?"

It growled again. Louder this time. Jesse, unlike Beca could not resist looking. A huge black jungle cat was one branch up from them, not six feet away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry I've been away for so long, I promise to finish the rest of the story in a timely manner.**

The jaguar was crouched, eyeing it's dinner warily. Beca gripped the knife handle tightly, wondering how on earth she was going to take on the beast and live to tell about it. But then again, yesterday she had no idea she'd been capable of murder either.

It didn't seem to notice Beca and Jesse. Though it was slightly closer to them, it was facing the same direction they were; the sleeping forms of Chloe and Benji. They hadn't been able to wake them without giving away their position, and Beca had silently communicated to Jesse to be quiet and let her handle it. For once, he didn't try to be the macho man, and listened.

They sat like this for a long time. An hour maybe. Or maybe only ten minutes, Beca couldn't really tell. Finally, the cat moved. It inched up to the edge of the branch, and pounced. The roar of the jaguar was enough to wake Chloe and Benji, maybe enough to wake the whole forest. They both screamed, adding to the din, and Chloe's sleeping bag slid over the side of her branch, leaving her hanging under it by the rope. Beca was on her feet before Jesse had even processed what had happened. As soon as the jaguar stopped, she stopped. She was maybe three steps away from it, more terrified than she'd ever been in her life, when it went for Benji. He was frantically trying to get out of his sleeping bag, and still screaming. The jaguar clamped down on his left forearm, and Beca jumped on it's back.

She plunged the blade into it's side, and it released Benji at once. She pulled the knife out and stabbed again, but missed because the beast turned so quickly it threw her off. She hit her back against a tree trunk and almost fell between branches but managed to catch herself at the last second. Now it came for her.

She slashed the blade wildly in front of her as it approached, but it was wounded. It was angry and still advancing, but clearly in pain too. As it got closer, it roared again, but in a sad way. It took one misstep and fell into a gap between branches. It tried to pull back up with its front paws, but lacked the strength. It made one more attempt before slumping down pathetically out of sight, and whining.

Jesse had pulled his shirt off and was wrapping it around Benji's arm. Beca climbed over to where Chloe was still trapped in her sleeping bag and started trying to pull her up. After Jesse tied off Benji's arm, he came over to help. Once Chloe was up and out, the three of them went to Benji. Jesse's shirt was already soaked with blood.

"His arm is broken." Jesse said. "Bastard has a strong bite." Benji was crying and, Beca thought, probably not just from the pain. A wound like that could be fatal in here. He would be unable to defend himself in a fight, and if it got infected they had no medicine. A spot over Beca's left eye began to throb. How much could a person take in one day? She felt beyond exhausted.

Since they were sleeping in shifts, Beca decided she and Chloe could take turns sharing her sleeping bag. They cut Chloe's up and made a sling for Benji. The rest of it they wrapped over Jesse's shirt to help stop the bleeding. Chloe and Jesse stayed up now while Beca and Benji tried to sleep. Morning wasn't far away.

Several hours passes without incident. Beca's sleep was torturous. Flashes of the fight with the jaguar, and falling snakes made her feel dead inside. When she woke, the echo of Lilly and Donald's screams still rang in her ears.

The sun was up, but just barely. She sat up and saw Jesse sitting with his back leaned against a tree, dozing. Chloe had her head on his shoulder, snoring slightly. She should be mad at them for sleeping on their watch, but she wasn't. They had made it through the night somehow and that was all that mattered at the moment.

She smelled cooking meat and her stomach rumbled audibly. Jesse's eyes opened immediately.

"Whasgoinon?" He said groggily, brandishing the knife and waking Chloe.

"It's ok Jess, it's just me." Beca whispered, untying the sleeping bag and getting out. She walked to the edge of the tree line and looked straight down. Someone else had found the water too. Directly below them, three people were sitting around a fire, roasting some animal they'd caught. As she watched a fourth came limping out of the forest and joined them.

She turned back and motioned at Jesse and Chloe to keep quiet. Then she climbed back over to Benji, who was still sleeping. Her heart sank when she got close enough to him to see his sweat soaked hair. He was shaking slightly too, probably with fever. He needed a doctor.

She motioned to the other two again, this time telling them not to wake Benji. She fetched the packs and took out a lemon bar, an apple, and water bottle for each of them. Sitting down close to Chloe and Jesse, she whispered to them the news that there were people below them.

"That means if we want to get to the water, we'll probably have to fight them first." Jesse said. "Awesome."

"Let's go lower and see who they are. Then we'll make a plan." Beca said. Jesse and Chloe nodded in agreement. "But one of us needs to stay with Benji. He should sleep as long as he can."

"I'll stay." Chloe volunteered. Beca and Jesse nodded without speaking. Beca lead the way down, trying to make as little sound as possible. In this, being small was an advantage. They went down almost to the forest floor, just above the line of sight of those below.

It was Cynthia Rose, Kolio, Stacie, and Hat. They weren't bothering to keep quiet at all. Beca didn't think it would matter if they did, the smell of the food would carry much further than their voices.

"I think it was Denise, but it's hard to be sure." Stacie was saying. "That was the worst thing I've ever seen."

"Who's left?" Hat asked.

"We know Lilly and Donald are out," Cynthia Rose answered. "Denise and Stephen too, assuming that was her, but I don't know about anyone else. Who have you guys seen?"

"Unicycle." Hat said. "He got attacked by a huge snake. He was dead when we found him, and the biggest snake I ever saw was trying to eat him whole."

"And Jessica and Tyler." Stacie added. "Jessica got ran through by Lilly in the first five minutes, and Bumper and Amy got Tyler later."

"Those two are vicious." Hat said.

"So that leaves Beca, Jesse, Chloe, Benji, Aubrey, Ashley, and Brian unaccounted for?" Cynthia Rose asked.

"Hell of a first day." Kolio said. "How are we gonna make it out?"

"You're not." A different voice answered. Beca jumped slightly at the malice in the voice. She had been so caught up listening to the horror stories that she hadn't even heard them coming. It was Fat Amy and Bumper.

Bumper had a short sword in his hand. Beca was sickened to see the dried blood on the end of it. They must have gone after the weapons in the clearing that Beca had barely paid attention to. He ran up to the group without hesitation, Amy right behind. Amy had a bat. The four around the fire jumped up quickly and brandished their own weapons. Bumper's sword went into Kolio's shoulder before he had a chance. Cynthia Rose went after him with her knife but Amy swung her bat at her head before she could reach him. It connected with a sickening crunch.

Beca had to put a hand on Jesse's arm to stop him from jumping down to help. Better they kill each other now than she or Jesse have to do it later. It was a terrible thought.

Stacie stabbed Amy twice before she took a blow on the shoulder from the bat that knocked her to the ground. She slashed Amy's leg, making a deep cut and Bumper stabbed her in the chest with his short sword. Hat backed up slowly, looking around frantically for someone to help him. For a way out. Bumper and Amy slowly moved forward as he continued to retreat. The river was behind him. He had nowhere to go.

Suddenly, he rushed at Bumper who swung wildly towards him with his sword. Hat ducked just in time. Had he been wearing the thing he was named for, it would have been knocked off. He tackled Bumper to the ground, causing him to drop his weapon. They began rolling around punching and kicking like a couple of kids in the school yard. And Bumper was losing.

Amy didn't use her bat for fear of hitting her own partner, so she dropped it and grabbed at Hat. She took hold of one of his arms and pulled him up. His lip was bleeding, but that was nothing to the bloody mess of Bumper's face. Amy held him by the arms and dragged him back away from Bumper, who was now yelling incoherent things, and retrieving his sword. His nose was clearly broken.

Hat was fighting desperately against Amy's grip, but she held his upper arms together behind his back, and he was hurting himself more than escaping. Bumper ran at his with sword in hand, yelling for Amy to move at the last second. She jumped to the side and Bumper impaled him to the hilt, his now red blade protruding several inches from Hat's back.

Hat's face was shocked. Bumper put a hand on his shoulder to hold him, and slowly pulled the blade back out. The pain was visible on Hat's face, but he made no move to stop him. Maybe he couldn't. Bumper pushed him roughly to the ground and turned away coldly. Amy was already at the fire, tearing a chunk of meat off of the prize.


End file.
